All but five per cent of young, full-time undergraduates at Coventry University are recruited from the state sector, figures show.

Performance indicators published by the universities funding council, HEFCE, show the university has a good record in opening doors to under-represented groups, including the disabled.

Throughout the UK, only 86 per cent of university entrants are from the state sector, compared with Coventry?s 95per cent.

The official indicators also look at the social class of students and whether they come from neighbourhoods where going to university is the norm. They also measure the number of disabled students.

To provide a benchmark against which performance can be measured, each university is compared with a family of universities offering similar subjects.

Coventry has 16 per cent coming from ?low participation? neighbourhoods, compared with 13 per cent in the UK as a whole.

Coventry also has 2.5 per cent full-time undergraduates with disabilities compared with 1.4 per cent in the UK.

University vice-chancellor Dr Michael Goldstein, said: ?Coventry University has been shown to be out in front in providing opportunities to an increasingly wide range of people, who have been traditionally denied the benefits of university education.

?It would be regrettable if, when the government announces its spending review plans for higher education, it were to take any steps that might prevent students from disadvantaged backgrounds from experiencing the benefits of higher education.?

The University of Warwick, also in Coventry, also claims it is widening access, despite a state school intake of only 76 per cent.

It says it is the only ?top five? university to meet government targets for access.

Warwick runs several courses designed to encourage students from diverse backgrounds to enter higher education.